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Even in human muppet mode, Mick Foley was still fairly badass as his early 1999 feud with The Rock and later The Big Show will attest to. This period also saw him beat both "Stone Cold" Steve Austin AND Triple H at the same time at Summerslam '99 before losing it to Triple H the next night.

It happened again in TNA during Mick's angle with Eric Bischoff. Mick went from being a legitimately insane badass who beat Sting for the world title to what Spoony referred to as dangerously-incapable-of-surviving-on-his-own stupid.

On the February 4, 2010 episode of Impact, Mick faced Kevin Nash in a no disqualification match. Despite not being able to inflict very much punishment on Foley, Nash got the three count after kicking Foley in the face. Yes, the man who remained conscious after falling off the top of a cage twice in the same night was booked to not only lose a no-DQ match, but get knocked out by a move that wasn't even Nash's finisher.

Unfortunately, this has occurred to Foley in real life as well. He is in such poor physical condition after decades of bumps, falls, and chair shots that he can no longer even put his own shoes and socks on.

Base Breaker: Mankind began as an utterly disturbing, unstable maniac that cut some of the most chilling promos ever seen in wrestling. Over time, however, this character was dropped in favour of a goofy, fun character, trading in his two-finger glove for Mr. Socko, and his disturbing and eerie Schizophrenic theme for the cheery Wreck theme. Which is the better version has often been debated.

Crazy Awesome: During the famously hellacious ordeal of his Hell in a Cell Match with The Undertaker, Foley was being taken out on a stretcher, but got up, jogged back to the cell, and climbed back up to the roof. With a dislocated shoulder. And if that doesn't convince you: after the match was finally over, Foley was again being stretchered out, but having been wheeled out once he refused to do so again, and with the help of a couple of WWF officials, walked to the back under his own power. Keep in mind, this is a man who had intentionally been tossed off the top of the sixteen-foot Hell in a Cell, then unintentionally got choke-slammed through the top of the Cell down to the ring, and afterwards admitted that he couldn't remember a good portion of the match. He also refused to go to a hospital following the match, because he was scripted to interfere in the main event, and even asked 'Taker backstage if they'd remembered the thumbtacks while dozens were still stuck in his skin. Of course, the main event didn't seem very "main event" after all of this. Keep in mind, the main event was "Stone Cold" Steve Austin finally losing his first WWF championship.

'Taker himself often looks somewhat beside himself whenever questions about this match come up in the rare interviews he's done, in stark contrast to his image. The fact that he actually, if briefly, broke character during the match when Foley got up from the stretcher and started yelling at him to climb back up to the top of the cage is just another level of Crazy Awesome Foley managed to achieve.

Foley says in Have a Nice Day that Mark Callaway (The Undertaker) legitimately believed that he had accidentally killed Foley after he fell through the top of the cell to the ring below; Callaway's memories of this match probably aren't very pleasant, especially when you keep in mind that it kept going on after the fall.

And then this (abridged) conversation he and 'Taker had in the back, after the match:

In another example more on the crazy side, during his match with Mideon and Viscera, they came out armed with various legit weapons include steel chairs and baseball bats. What did Cactus Jack come out armed with? A pair ofbasketballs. Guess who won?

His Cactus Jack theme song is this too. Apparently, it had once been in a porno.

Ensemble Dark Horse: Enough of one to get over half a million viewers to change the channel to see him win the WWF Title when informed he would. See Fingerpoke Of Doom for more information.

Fashion-Victim Villain: Also narrowly averted in that first meeting with Vince. The "Mason the Mutilator" costume was very frilly and had a texture Mick described as "puffy chainmail". Mick told Vince that, not only was it a horrible costume, but it was all wrong for the character (a deranged, deformed sewer-dweller). Vince took Mick's criticism to heart, calling his wardrobe department and ordering "something that looks like Mick made it in his basement", leading to the torn brown vest and tights he would later be known for.

Later inverted: He began wearing dress shirts and ties (along with his mask) later specifically because he thought formal clothes made him look worse.

Harsher in Hindsight: That legendary Hell in a Cell match can be harder to watch when you know about the numerous serious injuries Mick sustained during it.

Ho Yay: With Al Snow. As over-the-top as it sometimes seemed during the "Best Friends" gimmick, that was nothing compared to backstage.

As it turned out, a road trip with me and Al could be a little overwhelming. 'Too Hot' Scott Taylor once returned from five days in Canada and was asked by his wife how he'd enjoyed the trip. "It was fine," he told her, "Except all they talked about was hammering each other." Scott was not the only one who stopped riding with us after one trip.

He originally had two separate songs; his entrance theme, a grand, dark theme featuring violins and the occasional heavy drum, and his victory music, an incredibly eerie piano piece.

Many of his speeches as Mankind focused on his character's anger at being so alone in the world, and directing that anger not only on whoever he is about to face, but sometimes on the audience themselves.

Tough Act to Follow: Foley thought Undertaker's HiaC with Shawn Michaels was this, but it turned out that his own HaiC debut against Taker would set the standard for the match, and be the measuring stick by which not only his own matches, but every Hell in a Cell match that followed would be stacked up against. It's generally agreed that no subsiquent HaiC has met that standard, except possibly HHH vs Taker at Mania, but given the toll the match had on Foley's body, it's also generally agreed that's a good thing.

Ugly Cute: Real life example, the man is downright hideous, with several scars, broken bones, and a missing ear. Yet he's so likable, kind, good to his fans, and intelligent, that he's just lovable in every way. The high level of lovable is probably the crux to how he's been in an Ugly Guy, Hot Wife marriage for twenty years.

What an Idiot: Foley acknowledges that his old Fire Chair stunt was "unbelievably stupid." The trick came very close to killing Terry Funk, after which Foley permanently removed it from his repertoire.

The Woobie: Come on, watch any match where he gets beaten senseless and tell me that you don't want to just give him a big hug. Well, maybe not when he's covered in blood, but at least send him a nice "get well" note.

When he's a face, he is probably wrestling's biggest woobie. Though, he's a bit of a Real Life one as well. Averted when he's a heel though.

He was definitely a Woobie when he worked in Memphis. Most of management didn't like him and looked down upon him, and he garnered the unwarranted ire of a bitter referee who thought he was an idiot for wanting to be in the wrestling business. Case in point, Mick was legitimately injured during one match, where he had a torn ligament in his shoulder, and this same referee ignored him when he tried to tell him he was seriously injured. After getting to the back Mick apparently looked so pitiful that manager Randy Hales said something along the lines of "Cactus Jack has got to be the biggest pussy I've ever seen". That's right—somebody called Cactus Jack a pussy. Luckily for Mick, Jeff Jarrett—ironically one of the people who'd given him a pounding in the ring—immediately came to his defense and told Randy Hales off in a spectacular manner.

Iron Woobie: Most of his memorable matches play this trope for all its worth: the other guy beats on Mick with all he's got and Mick just keeps coming until the other guy pulls out a Limit Break attack that'll end the match.

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